The Worst Things About Battlefield 1

I recently wrote an article looking at the best aspects of Battlefield 1. I picked just five, but I could have had a much longer list. But it’s not all sunshine and lollipops. Nothing is ever perfect, after all. So in the spirit of shitting all over something I love, here are a few of my least favorite things about Battlefield 1.

The pointlessness of Battlefield 1’s classes

I feel that Battlefield 1’s classes are a tad pointless. It’s not that I don’t appreciate the need for different classes – it’s more that they feel a little defunct. Take the fact that tanks aren’t quite as prevalent, or deadly, as they are in previous installments – for example. So being the assault class, with the sole aim of tank-hunting, is a little unnecessary. Plus, you can get some decent anti-tank grenades on all of the classes – so you don’t need to rely on heavier grenades or dynamite.

Plus, you’ll have to be bloody good to take down any planes with explosives in Battlefield 1. You might be able to launch a grenade into the air as a plane flies overhead, or throw down some dynamite to catch them as they pass. The likelihood is, though, you’ll only be doing damage to planes on mounted anti-aircraft guns – which you can use as any class.

In previous installments, we relied on the Support class to take down vehicles – airborne or ground-based. But as Battlefield 1 is set in the First World War, where vehicles weren’t quite as integral to the war effort, the need for distinct classes seems to be missed. It’s actually pretty easy to take down vehicles without being the Assault class, what with there being a flak cannon every five meters.

The Scouts are pretty decent, and some of their extra gear is quite useful – particularly the flare. But weapons wise, the Medic’s rifle is pretty decent over distance. With the Scout, you’ll need to hit someone twice to kill them (when they’re on full health, without a headshot). As a Medic, you’ll have to hit them three times (under the same conditions). The only difference is that the Medic is an all-rounder, whereas the Scout is only really good over distance… plus the rifles are bolt-action, rather than semi-auto.

Everyone’s a medic, but nobody revives or heals you

Building on the class issue, it seems that most people play as a Medic (myself included). Now there’s nothing wrong with this. Far from it – the more people around to buff other players and pick up the pieces when they die, the better. But, that being said, those playing Medics seem to just leave you for dead.

I’m not sure if the players don’t understand how being a medic works. Or if they’re just too self centered to actually perform their duties. Either way, it drives me crazy. There’s nothing worse than waiting to be revived, and seeing that a Medic is just 18 meters away. Then 17 meters… 10 meters…. 2 meters. You can almost taste the revive, they’re that close. Then back to 7 meters… 10 meters… 18 meters. Until they’ve headed off on their merry way – leaving you to re-spawn like a chump. I’ll always revive a fellow player – even if they’re in a position where I know I’ll be likely to get killed. That’s what the medic does – they leave no player behind.

No back button in Battlefield 1’s loading screen

What gives. Why do I have to wait for a game to fully load before I can quit. Logically, you should be able to quit whilst you’re in the lobby. I mean, you can unlock Battlepacks. You can even check out your and your squad’s performance. But you can’t go back to the game’s home-screen. Unless you want to force quit the game, of course. Which is a pain in the sack.

Games take an age to load

This issue may well be specific to Battlefield 1 on the Xbox One – I know a buddy who doesn’t have it on the PC, for example. But games seem to take forever to load. It almost feels like an eternity. Now I’m not talking about when you transition from one map to the next – that’s pretty speedy. I’m talking about when you first launch into an online game. The waiting time can be in excess of five minutes. Doesn’t sound that long, sure. But when you consider that I could play a game of FIFA in that time, it does make me question what I’m waiting for. In fact, the main image of this article is a pretty accurate representation of the face I pull whilst waiting to join a game. I’m pretty sure I’ve visibly aged by the end of it, it’s that long. Thankfully, when you’re actually in, the experience is incredible – so I don’t really mind the wait.

So there are my issues with Battlefield 1. None of them are game breaking. None of them make me hate the game. Sure, it’d be good if the issues were eventually resolved, and I’m sure one or two of them will be. But, in general, I love the game so much that I’m happy to look past its flaws.